Truck Party at Stolls

A picture to end the day - trucks and truckers taking a break from the road. No party at our place today though we did watch an early afternoon movie (War Dance, a feel good movie about some youngsters in Urganda who do very well at a national music festival in spite of their war ravaged home front) and finished up one shortly after getting up (Kundun, about the Dali Lama - very good - he is still waiting to get back to his country - Tibet).

Emerging Deer

Shortly after the last group of golfers cleared #5 last night, the deer came out to play. Guess they thought I was no threat since I carried just a camera and not the golfing sticks and balls. Looks impressionistic, doesn't it?

Voting Age in the US of A, Ducks in a golden pond

Question of the day: What is the minimum voting age in the United States? Answer here. Came up in a recent conversation where the other party remembered the voting age as having always been the same.

Speeding boat picture...

...to end a busy Tuesday.

Jim and Wilma in Loogootee

From the other morning: Jim paying the piper, Wilma trying out a new sidewalk cafe location (?) and Diane and Wilma strolling.

Part of Diane's Loveliest Spring

Pictures taken this morning on a stroll around the yard. Diane was away golfing and really does think this has been one of the loveliest of Springs.

Other People's Neat Stuff

Here's a picture/art work which I find intriguing. The artist, who blogs here, has done something with a photo, I think, that makes it somewhat impressionistic. It's cool.

And Boxman I continue to enjoy - young monks walking in Laos here.

And how about a wedding party picture from Nanjing? here.

Field Work

Spring planting across from the golf course.

Geese being protective

Geese get very protective of their young.

Part of an Easter Sunday Shoot

Ian sharing with Naomi and the girls having a go at a board game.

More views of a small town on a Friday morning

Pictures: what every town needs, just a few blocks south of town's center, and green lights and a delivery man.

Friday morning in a small town

Went out to breakfast with Jim and Wilma and had the opportunity to take some pictures downtown.

Thursday evening bird on the edge

Looks like this bird is ready to take a big step and leap into the unknown. Makes one wonder if maybe birds have a fear of flying, at least every now and then. Taken at the golf course as Richard Swayze and I were just starting to cross the bridge over the spillway.

A suggestive sign

Picture for the day, taken the day several weeks back when Diane and I were coming back from Washington after seeing The Bucket List. Kind of fits in with the theme of the movie, doesn't it?

Movie: The Deer Hunter

Watched this Oscar winning Vietnam War movie - some of it last night and the rest of it this morning. The Deer Hunter is dark and devastating - a look at life before and after Vietnam service for a group of friends in a steel town. Never have seen any reference to these Russian roulette clubs and games that play such a big role in this movie. Crazy people. Good movie though dark and depressing.

Golden Hues and Hillary

Picture taken well before sunset from just above the clubhouse.

Hillary won in PA. My oh my. And reports are that Barack outspent her 3 to 1. The lady still lives. Amazing.

Solar Power, Voter Stories widget, Primaries and RFK

Of note for a Tuesday morning:

-solar power getting more attention, again, as oil prices soar. wired.com has an update on investment, including Google's backing of eSolar which is

a company whose basic solar power strategy -- using sunlight-reflecting mirrors to generate steam -- was all but abandoned in the 1980s, and has recently recently caught investors' attention again.

Go solar...

-hullabaloo - digby offer information on a voter story widget:

The VoterStory web widget is programmed to collect and classify voter complaints in real time across the Internet and will provide a data feed of complaints that can be addressed in real time by Voter Protection groups who partner with VoterStory.

Hope it helps. Voting, as much of it as we've done, should be fairly routine, shouldn't it?

-people in PA are voting. Our turn coming up. In the RFK book I'm reading, Hoosiers are about to go to the polls and give Bobby a victory. That would be May 7, 1968. He has a little less than a month to live.

Picture for a Monday evening

Kay was out at the golf course late this Monday afternoon. Caught up with her and Suzie at #3 tee box and took a quick picture which turned out pretty good. At least I think it did. What a smile! The second picture, of her and Suzie, can be seen over at the News blog.

Johnny One Note and blue skies

Picture: If you watch pbs at all, you will understand the reference. Here's a version of the song that will cheer your day. The picture was taken late yesterday afternoon out at the golf course. And yes that is blue sky - remember how we were 'promised' sunny and 70 yesterday? I think it actually happened at about 7:15 pm and it was very nice if all too brief.

Danica and Lorena

Number One Son and Indy resident and race fan and Audi fanatic and Danica Patrick fan insists that I make some kind of comment on Ms Patrick's win at the Indy Japan 300 (espn's coverage which also lists the location of the race - in the mountains nw of Tokyo). That would be a first for the tiny lady and a first for any woman. Breaking down the doors to all those male thingees that we are finding out aren't necessarily exclusively male thingees.

And another young lady continues to shine and play the best golf of any golfer on the universe. That would be Lorena Ochoa who won for the fourth time in four weeks earlier today. Wowzer.

Pictures on a Sunday Afternoon: Wild Things Not in a Hurry

Pictures of some of the wildlife around the golf course. Was finishing up the day with a walk around and found birds and deer very aware of me but also not willing to run and hide. Rather they waited for me to be on my way. The deer were in the woods just off of #5 teeing area. The red winged blackbird and the swallow greeted me at #7 and #9 teeing areas.

Lorena, RFK, Nagasaki

Pictures: Bird apartment complex at Stoll's Lakeview Restaurant.

-Watched some of the women play at the Ginn Open. Lorena leads but only by a bit over a youngster from Taiwan - Yani Tseng. Those two will be joined by Teresa Lu, another young lady from Taiwan, in the final pairing today. Ochoa is always impressive but Tseng was as well yesterday. Expect a good game today - in fact, though five, the Oriental lady has jumped to a one stroke lead over the Mexican lady. Love the international flavor in the LPGA.

-Got a new book going, in fact, two. Ray E. Boomhower's Robert Kennedy and the 1968 Indiana Primary is one which I am reading - how appropriate since once again Indiana is in the political news what with the Hillary-Barack battle for Indiana's delegates. Wasn't living here than (was in Bellevue, WN) but several local golfers remember RFK's visit here in Loogootee. Somebody told me that Joe Allen might have a picture of himself with the candidate - maybe Joe can send me a copy to post - that would be neat. Second book just arrived - from Diane's paperback book swap club: First into Nagasaki, George Weller's long lost account of his censored reporting from that city a month after the dropping of the 2nd atomic bomb there. Each book covers a couple of fairly momentous times 40-60 years ago.

The Business of Being Born

From Netflix, The Business of Being Born: this documentary on the birthing business and why the process should be changed here in the good old U s of A. Very strong arguments for natural childbirth, something the rest of the world (?) has seemingly gone about doing, getting away from the doctor centered birth and back to the mother/child centered birth. Well worth watching even if you are way past the child bearing/rearing age. Diane says if she had to do it over, she would do it the natural way; that was after watching the documentary - before, it was give me anything and everything to take away the pain. Caution: real pain suffered by women giving natural childbirth. And then the transformation at the birth, the 'reaching down and grasping your baby' - wow and wowzer! Several births are shown in the movie and the camera catches the sheer wonder and amazement of the mother's supreme moment. Absolutely full of awe.

Clouds that go forever

Picture taken early this evening as a day of light rain was coming to an end. Note how the clouds wrap themselves around the far horizon, probably extending all the way to Japan...

Middle of April in Southern Indiana...

...is red bud time. The picture was taken as I was leaving the golf course tonight, the tree, and another one as well, growing right there on the bank between the parking lot and the highway. Also known in some parts as the spicewood tree. From the link:

In some parts of southern Appalachia, green twigs from the Eastern redbud were once used as seasoning for wild game such as venison and opossum. Because of this, in these mountain areas the Eastern redbud was, and in a few locales still is, known as the spicewood tree.

Earthquake and us

Our very own earthquake. Diane and I both woke to the bump and thud of something falling somewhere in the house and then just lay there and felt the rumble and the shake and the earth moving all around us. Diane said she was going to wait for the aftershock - guess I went back to sleep. They say it only lasted about 5 seconds but you know you can't believe everything you read or hear; for Diane and me it went on for at least a minute or two, maybe even more depending on whether you're on fast time or slow time.

Just a few days ago

Don't tell anybody, but just a few days ago it was cool enough to get yourself chilled. Eric and Ian at the track meet in Loogootee earlier this week.

In a hurry...

Thursday League starts in just a little bit. Hurray!

Today's sunset

Universal Health Care

Long day yesterday but did get home to find Diane watching Frontline's program on different varieties of health care around the world. It was very good as the program examined how England, Germany, Japan and Taiwan have tackled universal health care with the rather overt suggestion that the old US of A needs to do something with its inadequate and costly system. From Kevin Drum:

HEALTHCARE FOLLOWUP....So I watched the PBS show "Sick Around the World" and it turned out to be pretty good. Not a ton of wonky detail, just a nice friendly overview of five different countries and the basics of how their healthcare systems work. The Frontline website is here, and you can watch the show online if you missed it on TV.

I liked the ending. This is approximate, but after wondering whether Americans will ever accept any of the healthcare ideas he had just presented, correspondent T.R. Reid closed with this:

These ideas aren't as foreign as they seem. If you're a U.S. veteran, your healthcare is like Britain. If you're a senior citizen on Medicare, you're Taiwan. If you're a worker who gets insurance from your employer, you're Germany.

Quite so. National healthcare really isn't as foreign or as frightening as conservatives make it out to be. "Sick Around the World" does a good job of demystifying it.

And this from Quotes of the Day:

The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.
- Voltaire

So, any suggestions on how you would like to be amused?

Ian at yesterday's track meet

Ian was all wrapped up in a hunting outfit. It was windy and cool at the meet; and on top of that he was hungry and after his dad to seriously commit to a stop at one of the local fast food joints once Lucas had finished up his track team obligations.

Track Meet Pictures

Pictures taken at Lucas' first track meet earlier today in Loogootee:
-an 'oh no' moment for a male runner
-one of the more evenly matched races
-hurdling girls 1
-hurdling girls 2
-Lucas, the reason we were there.
To see a larger image, click on the image.

Leah and the delight of a chocolate muffin

Picture: Leah having breakfast at the Indy airport the other day.

Heading to the golf course where there's lots of green grass and water along with a place to hit a ball or two.

Sunday evening: the Masters, Lorena, Torture

-Tiger loses the Masters to Trevor (blame it on the putter); Lorena wins by 11 (!) and gains eligibility for Hall at age 26 and something (Karrie Webb is youngest at age 25 and something). Bully for the lad from South Africa and the lass from Mexico.

-from firedoglake and looseheadprop, more on torture. The author quotes Scalia, Yoo and Fitzgerald. Guess which two are bending the law to make torture look likes it's legal? Fools. Bully for the guy whose name starts with an F. From the blog:

From the Indictment:

....defendant herein, an Officer of the Chicago Police Department, while acting under color of law, used a dangerous weapon to strike Victim A repeatedly, while Victim A was handcuffed and shackled in a wheelchair in Norwegian American Hospital, resulting in bodily injuries to Victim A, thereby willfully depriving Victim A of a right secured and protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States, that is, the right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a person acting under color of law;...

From the press release: [pdf]

"Every citizen, regardless of being in police custody, has a Constitutional right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by law enforcement officers." Mr. Fitzgerald said.

Odds and ends to get a day started

Picture: another b&w from the airport - railings.

Golf course is closed with the inclement weather. Maybe a walk later this afternoon over there is appropriate.

Danielle and the girls got back home. Am sure Phil and the cats are happy again. Quiet around here as you can imagine.

Torture is back in the news - did you notice? Throw the rascals to the wolves, or give them a dose of their own medicine. Would you do that? Didn't thinks so; I wouldn't either though would like to see them brought before the world courts and the US courts. Fools doing dastardly things. 281 days and 14 hours and some minutes left. Long time to put up with nonsense and worse.

Guess I'll go do something constructive for myself - take a walk and enjoy the cool of an April day.

Saturday's Fun: Joe Doyle, the Masters, Jon Dara

Picture: Show cars at Stolls earlier today. Expect the drivers/owners were inside filling their bellies with good food.

Of Note:

-Joe Doyle stopped in at the golf course this morning ready to play in a scramble (fowl weather canceled it). He is just up from Florida and shared some of his stories from the Beijing trip and beer drinking on the Great Wall. Next item on his bucket list: Egypt and the Pyramids.

-Watched cbs most of the afternoon. Enjoyed the look back in history, both the heroes' segment and the '80's segment. Think they did a super job on entertaining us with cool stuff while we patiently waited for today's coverage to begin. Also thought the new gadget that allowed them to give us an animated trip down each fairway to the green was super - saw the slant of Augusta for what it really was for the first time - expect if I played there I would never hit a shot other than from an uphill or downhill stance. Also, do you wonder if this is the major where Tiger wins after not leading after 54 holes? Will have to climb quite a hill if he is to do that.

-Netflix movie tonight: Jon Dara - a Thai movie with a dark story and a lot of mixing of the sexes. The description does not do the movie justice or tell it like it is. This is better - from one of the reviews at the Netflix link:

The much-hyped Miss Hong Kong Christy Chung is perfect as Khun Boonlueang, one of the, uh, cool-as-ice mistresses. Though light on the eyes, the story is another matter. It's so intensely dark and disturbing, riddled with one too many taboos, it might actually put off some viewers. Consider yourself warned. The Siamese have done it again: "Jan Dara" is a disturbing, beautiful, sad, and highly erotic film. I'm definitely looking forward to watching Nimibutr's "Nang Nak."

Slow moving but in the end I did enjoy it; Diane, on the other hand, thought it wasn't even very good background as she unraveled yarn and continued knitting.

Miki in Japan

Picture: Miki at a very young age when we were still in Yokosuka, Japan, in base housing. Diane remembers that Miki really didn't want to have her picture taken at the time. She would have enjoyed playing with Leah and Naomi; in fact, the Aunt Miki that this young princess turned into did enjoy playing with Leah and Naomi.